Monday, 27 February 2012

Has the Rubicon been crossed?

In regard to the Extraordinary Form and Summorum Pontificum - the Bishops and
'professional' clergy/laity of this country defiantly attempted to
thwart those who desired it:

They lied about the composition of those desiring it [i.e. that they were all pre-vatican II octogenarians!]
They lied about the regulations,
They lied about what constitutes the composition of a stable group.
They lied about provision,
They lied about their ecclesiastical power to prevent them and provide them..

...and then turned round to Rome and...

...lied that nobody wanted them!

And the few who did want to say EF masses were all raging
sedevacantists or fascistic bullying priests who were forcing the form
upon an outraged , distressed congregation!!!
e.g. The Tablet's character assassination of Fr Tim Finigan.
Need we go through the scandal at Allerton Bywater where a priest is dispossessed ,
aside-thrust, cast-out by the sheer might of Uncle +Arthur Roche's will?

The generosity of His Holiness is rather directed at those who despise his Papacy and the entire Benedictine Revolution - renegade fifth-columnists within Holy Mother Church who seek to create a
NuChurch in their own image and to their own aggrandisement.
If I were the Pope I should have launched an inquiry into the validity of Diocesan
claims regarding Summorum Pontificum and see if the reality measured up
in any way!

Because we all know it doesn't!

For decades we have been drenched with a vomit-inducing, relativistic, pragmatic syncretist
oecumania regarding our 'separated brethren' - and we defiantly broke
Church regulations and papal directives and performed all manner of
sacrileges and scandals in the process...

We are now fully aware that these initiatives, programmes and tens of millions wasted was not
merely counterproductive and alienating - it was performed by
recalcitrant liars and hypocrites WHO DID NOT WANT OECUMENISM...

How can we deduce this?
By the scandalous way the Ordinariate have been treated by our
hierarchy and the 'professional' clergy/laity with their incessant
dismissal, ridicule, their whispering campaigns against them and their
outrageous refusal to comply with His Holiness's wishes in their regard.

When the Ordinariate was formed it was envisaged by Rome that after
Archbishop Nichols many, many 'obliging' trips to Rome to help formulate
the Ordinariate in secret with its main leaders...that once the
Ordinariate was instituted it would be provided with at least one
London-based Central Church with an effective administrative HQ - AND
THE GENEROSITY OF FUNDS!!!

Whispers from the ether suggest that a
certain gentleman in white was led to believe that as Westminster was
closing Colney it was going to be provisionally donated to the
Ordinariate with financial assistance and on-site help from perhaps a
few religious orders in its maintenance...

...only a few months
ago we were scandalised to discover that potentially the Ordinariate
were going to be provided with a glorified public toilet as their HQ!!!

and NOW?!!
+Vin's turned round and told them to get stuffed because 'you can't afford one
so we wouldn't want to financially and logistically burden you'

IN ONE WORD: BETRAYAL!

Which is hardly surprising:

Already we have the contemptible Stalinist revisionism of
'Civil Partnerships are ok'
by +Vin and Catholic Voices. [although the CBCEW seems to have had a wobble and 'clarified' that the position has not changed since the 'strongly oppose them' of 2003 (But has anyone bothered to tell +Vin or the CVeebies?)}

We Have a Bishops Conference which has endorsed:
Abortion via Connexions in Catholic Schoolc
Euthanasia via the Liverpool care Pathway
Employing those who advocate, promote and actuate the Culture of Death [even to
the extent of giving top jobs to pro-abortion ex MPs, population control
experts and the woman who sent the mobile abortuaries into Sub-Saharan
Africa!!!]

Conference conspired with the Mental Capacity act [a letter from Archbishop Smith duplicitously stating the Church 'had no problems with the bill' was read out in the Commons and halted a backbench rebellion in its tracks] , it deplorably attempted to make deals over the HFEA Bill and what's
probably the worst of all - had there not been an election we might now
be in a situation where Catholic moral teaching in a Catholic school
would be banned outside the religious education class - due to an HSE
bill which was joint-drafted by the CESEW!!!???

Does their Vichyite treachery know no bounds?

The despicable activity at the Vaughan and Warwick St - and even +Vin's
continuing refusal to sort out the abortifacient prescription &
abortion referrals - even sex-change operations - ongoing at the John & Lizzie ; they're small
change to these people....

What should His Holiness do?
Where does he start?
Does he order Conference to immediately dissociate itself from Connexions and the LCP?
Does he demand +Vin gets his act together, stops abortions being authorised
by the hospital in his auspices, stops rewriting Catholic teaching
regarding homosexual unions, stops allowing opportunistic media-hacks
and acolytes to do the same thing as they have done elsewhere
[especially regarding condoms] ; stops the Soho masses and Quest?

...and does he order +Vin to for God's sake give the Ordinariate a Church like His Holiness was led to believe they would?

Members of the Ordinariate gave up their security, their livelihoods, took
their families into penury living on the good-will of friends and
extended family and charitable Anglican and Catholic friends...

...and what have we done in return?
We've spat on them and told them they're not wanted!

May God forgive us - and if +Vin gets his red hat after this I hope he has
the decency not to be able to look in the mirror wearing it.

The Augean stables are now so large - where can one start?

Are we now at a stage where - given we've a Conference which allows
abortions in Catholic schools and has no problem with the sick and
elderly being starved & dehydrated to death...

...to suspend - even abolish- the Bishops' Conference?

Canonically they've already broken so many laws it would take years of trials and tribunals!

Our hierarchy have technically - through negligence, arrogance and
downright refusal to obey the laws and teachings of Holy Mother Church -
have inaugurated what's tantamount to a civil war!

Inside I'm flying

No Exception: No Compromise : No Less Human: Abolish Abortion

Dedicated to The Sacred Heart

.

About Me

Ex-Seminarian, Father-of-three [plus one who came to stay and never left],
Student of Philosophy, Theology, Psychology and Ethics; failing writer and supermarket worker. All round disappointment and waste of space; but my heart is in the right place.

Link to my other Blog:

Supporter of REAL MARRIAGE

Summa Theologica III,29,2

I answer that, Marriage or wedlock is said to be true by reason of its attaining its perfection.

Now perfection of anything is twofold; first, and second. The first perfection of a thing consists in its very form, from which it receives its species; while the second perfection of a thing consists in its operation, by which in some way a thing attains its end.

Now the form of matrimony consists in a certain inseparable union of souls, by which husband and wife are pledged by a bond of mutual affection that cannot be sundered.

And the end of matrimony is the begetting and upbringing of children: the first of which is attained by conjugal intercourse; the second by the other duties of husband and wife, by which they help one another in rearing their offspring.

No Common Sense

"Almighty and ever-living God,by whom Mary, the immaculate Virgin Mother of your Son,was taken up, body and soul into the glory of heaven: grant, we beseech you,that, ever intent on the things that are above,we may become worthyof sharing in the glory that is hers."

"O God, you are my God, for you I long; for you my soul is thirsting...."

"My body pines for you , like a dry, weary land without water...."

"So I gaze on you in the sanctuary , to see your strength and your glory...."

" So I will bless you all my life,in your name I will lift up my hands...."

"My soul shall be filled as with a banquet , my mouth shall praise you with joy...."

" On my bed I remember you. On you I muse through the night...."

" For your Love have been my help ; in the shadow of your wings I rejoice...."

" My soul clings to you ; your right hand holds me fast. " [Ps 62/3]

1* If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.2* And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, * but have not love, I gain nothing.4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;5* it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.7* Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.[1 Cor 13]

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;

...and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -by the Divine Power of God -cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits, who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.Amen.

With God all things are possible...

May the Divine Assistance remain always with us, and may the Souls of the Faithful Departed ; through the Mercy of God ; Rest in Peace. Amen.

7* Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. 9* In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10* In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12* No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13* By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. 14* And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17* In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. 19* We love, because he first loved us. 20* If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot * love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also. [1 Jn 4]

For I am sure that neither death,nor life,nor angels,nor principalities,nor things present,nor things to come,nor powers,nor height,nor depth,nor anything else in all creation,will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Prayer of St Teresa of Avila

Although I have often abandoned you,O Lord, you have never abandoned me.Your hand of love is always outstretched towards me,even when I stubbornly look the other way.And your gentle voice constantly calls me,even when I obstinately refuse to listen.When the sins in my soul are increasing,I lose the taste for virtuous things.Yet, even at such moments,Lord, I know I am failing you and failing myself.You alone can restore my taste for virtue.There are so many false friends willing to encourage sin.But your friendship alone can give the strength of mind to resist and defeat sin.

What a good friend you are, Lord!You are so patient,willing to wait as long as necessary for me to turn to you. You rejoice at the times when I love you,but you do not hold against me the times when I ignore you. Your patience is beyond my understanding.Even when I pray,my mind fills with worldly concerns and vain daydreams.Yet you are happy if I give only a single second of honest prayer,turning that second into a seed of love.

Oh Lord, I enjoy your friendship so much,why is it not possible for me to think of you constantly?

Grant that in all things,great and small, today and all the days of my life,I may do whatever You require of me.Help me respond to the slightest prompting of Your Grace,so that I may be Your trustworthy instrument for Your honor.

May Your Will be done in time and in eternity -- by me, in me, and through me. Amen.

Prayer to the Sacred Heart to consecrate the world to its Graces

Most sweet Jesus,Redeemer of the human race,look down upon us humbly prostrate before Your altar.We are Yours,and Yours we wish to be;but, to be more surely united with You,behold each one of us freely consecrates himself todayto Your Most Sacred Heart.Many indeed have never known You;many too, despising Your precepts,have rejected You.Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus,and draw them to Your Sacred Heart.You are King, O Lord,not only of the faithful who have never forsaken You,but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned You; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's houselest they die of wretchedness and hunger.You are King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof;call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith,so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd.You are King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism;refuse not to draw them all into the light and kingdom of God. Turn Your eyes of mercy toward the children of that race, once Your chosen people.Of old they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior;may it now descend upon them a laver of redemption and of life.Grant, O Lord, to Your Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm;give peace and order to all nations,and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: Praise to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation;to It be glory and Honor forever.

Amen.

Prayer for Vocations

O Holy Spirit, Spirit of wisdom and divine love, impart Your knowledge, understanding, and counsel to youth that they may know the vocation wherein they can best serve God. Give them courage and strength to follow God's holy will. Guide their uncertain steps, strengthen their resolutions, shield their chastity, fashion their minds, conquer their hearts, and lead them to the vineyards where they will labour in God's holy service. Amen.

Prayer during Depression or Anxiety

Dear Jesus, I walk in the valley of darkness for I suffer trom depression.I feel unloved. rejected, useless to myself and useless to others.I feel lost in a world I no longer understand.At times, I want to sleep and never wake up again. Lord, I believe that Your love is a transforming love.Jesus, Son of David have pity on me.Out of the depths, I cry to you. Lord, even though I feel nothing, I still praise you for the wonder of my being.You have formed me in my mother's womb and watched over me to this moment.I am precious in Your eyes and You love me.On the Cross, you shed your blood for me.You have carved me in the palm of Your hand. For all this I give you thanks and praise. May your Precious Blood give new life to me and to all those who suffer as I do.Take each one of us and hug us to your sacred and loving heart.Through your glorious wounds may we be healed.Dear Jesus, when you fed the crowd in the desert, you wished to gather up the fragments, lest anything be lost.As I wander through a desert and darkness of my own, I ask you to gather up the fragments of this shattered being, lest anything be lost.Through the prophet, Joel, You promise to restore the years that the locusts have eaten.I ask you, lay Your hands gently on my weary head and restore me.Let your face shine upon me and give me back the peace and the joy that has been lost. Amen

"Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

GOD HAS CREATED ME
to do Him some definite service
He has committed some work to me
which He has not committed to another
I HAVE MY MISSION
I may never know it in this life
but I shall be told it in the next
I AM A LINK IN A CHAIN
A bond of connection between persons
He has not created me for naught
I shall do good - I shall do His work
I shall be an angel of peace
a preacher of truth in my own place
while not intending it
if I do but keep His commandments
THEREFORE I WILL TRUST HIM
whatever I am, I can never be thrown away
if I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him
in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him
if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him
HE DOES NOTHING IN VAIN
He knows what He is about
He may take away my friends
He may throw me among strangers
He may make me feel desolate
make my spirits sink
hide my future from me - still
HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS ABOUT
~ Cardinal Newman ~

Teach us good Lord,To serve you as you deserve,to give and not to count the cost,to fight and not to heed the wounds,to toil and not to seek for rest,to labour and not to ask for reward,save that of knowing that we do your will:through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Take, Lord, all my liberty. Receive my memory, my understanding, and my whole will. Whatever I have and possess, you have given me; to you I restore it wholly, and to your will I utterly surrender it for my direction. Give me the love of you only, with your grace, and I am rich enough; nor do I ask anything besides.

More Quotes

Those who love to be feared , fear to be loved ; and they themselves are more afraid than anyone : For whereas other men fear only them, they fear everyone... [St Francis de Sales]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cardinal Ratzinger's Pre-Conclave Sermon

"At this hour of great responsibility, we hear with special consideration what the Lord says to us in his own words. From the three readings I would like to examine just a few passages which concern us directly at this time.The first reading gives us a prophetic depiction of the person of the Messiah – a depiction which takes all its meaning from the moment Jesus reads the text in the synagogue in Nazareth, when he says: “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4,21). At the core of the prophetic text we find a word which seems contradictory, at least at first sight. The Messiah, speaking of himself, says that he was sent “To announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God” (Is 61,2). We hear with joy the news of a year of favor: divine mercy puts a limit on evil – the Holy Father told us. Jesus Christ is divine mercy in person: encountering Christ means encountering the mercy of God. Christ’s mandate has become our mandate through priestly anointing. We are called to proclaim – not only with our words, but with our lives, and through the valuable signs of the sacraments, the “year of favour from the Lord”. But what does the prophet Isaiah mean when he announces the “day of vindication by our God”? In Nazareth, Jesus did not pronounce these words in his reading of the prophet’s text – Jesus concluded by announcing the year of favor. Was this, perhaps, the reason for the scandal which took place after his sermon? We do not know. In any case, the Lord gave a genuine commentary on these words by being put to death on the cross. Saint Peter says: “He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross” (1 Pe 2,24). And Saint Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians: “Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree’, that the blessing of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Gal 3, 13s).The mercy of Christ is not a cheap grace; it does not presume a trivialization of evil. Christ carries in his body and on his soul all the weight of evil, and all its destructive force. He burns and transforms evil through suffering, in the fire of his suffering love. The day of vindication and the year of favor meet in the paschal mystery, in Christ died and risen. This is the vindication of God: he himself, in the person of the Son, suffers for us. The more we are touched by the mercy of the Lord, the more we draw closer in solidarity with his suffering – and become willing to bear in our flesh “what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Col 1, 24). In the second reading, the letter to the Ephesians, we see basically three aspects: first, the ministries and charisms in the Church, as gifts of the Lord risen and ascended into heaven. Then there is the maturing of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, as a condition and essence of unity in the body of Christ. Finally, there is the common participation in the growth of the body of Christ - of the transformation of the world into communion with the Lord.Let us dwell on only two points. The first is the journey towards “the maturity of Christ” as it is said in the Italian text, simplifying it a bit. More precisely, according to the Greek text, we should speak of the “measure of the fullness of Christ”, to which we are called to reach in order to be true adults in the faith. We should not remain infants in faith, in a state of minority. And what does it mean to be an infant in faith? Saint Paul answers: it means “tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery” (Eph 4, 14). This description is very relevant today!How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking… The small boat of thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves – thrown from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what Saint Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (cf Eph 4, 14). Having a clear faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and “swept along by every wind of teaching”, looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today’s standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one’s own ego and one’s own desires.However, we have a different goal: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. Being an “Adult” means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today’s fashions or the latest novelties. A faith which is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. It is this friendship which opens us up to all that is good and gives us the knowledge to judge true from false, and deceit from truth. We must become mature in this adult faith; we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith. And it is this faith – only faith – which creates unity and takes form in love. On this theme, Saint Paul offers us some beautiful words - in contrast to the continual ups and downs of those were are like infants, tossed about by the waves: (he says) make truth in love, as the basic formula of Christian existence. In Christ, truth and love coincide. To the extent that we draw near to Christ, in our own life, truth and love merge. Love without truth would be blind; truth without love would be like “a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal” (1 Cor 13,1).Looking now at the richness of the Gospel reading, I would like to make only two small observations. The Lord addresses to us these wonderful words: “I no longer call you slaves…I have called you friends” (Jn 15,15). So many times we feel like, and it is true, that we are only useless servants. (cf Lk 17,10). And despite this, the Lord calls us friends, he makes us his friends, he gives us his friendship. The Lord defines friendship in a dual way. There are no secrets among friends: Christ tells us all everything he hears from the Father; he gives us his full trust, and with that, also knowledge. He reveals his face and his heart to us. He shows us his tenderness for us, his passionate love that goes to the madness of the cross. He entrusts us, he gives us power to speak in his name: “this is my body…”, “I forgive you…”. He entrusts us with his body, the Church. He entrusts our weak minds and our weak hands with his truth – the mystery of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the mystery of God who “so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” (Jn 3, 16). He made us his friends – and how do we respond?The second element with which Jesus defines friendship is the communion of wills. For the Romans “Idem velle – idem nolle”, (same desires, same dislikes ) was also the definition of friendship. “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (Jn 15, 14). Friendship with Christ coincides with what is said in the third request of the Our Father: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. At the hour in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus transformed our rebellious human will in a will shaped and united to the divine will. He suffered the whole experience of our autonomy – and precisely bringing our will into the hands of God, he have us true freedom: “Not my will, but your will be done”. In this communion of wills our redemption takes place: being friends of Jesus to become friends of God. How much more we love Jesus, how much more we know him, how much moreour true freedom grows as well as our joy in being redeemed. Thank you, Jesus, for your friendship! The other element of the Gospel to which I would like to refer is the teaching of Jesus on bearing fruit: “I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain” (Jn 15, 16). It is here that is expressed the dynamic existence of the Christian, the apostle: I chose you to go and bear fruit…”. We must be inspired by a holy restlessness: restlessness to bring to everyone the gift of faith, of friendship with Christ. In truth, the love and friendship of God was given to us so that it would also be shared with others. We have received the faith to give it to others – we are priests meant to serve others. And we must bring a fruit that will remain. All people want to leave a mark which lasts. But what remains? Money does not. Buildings do not, nor books. After a certain amount of time, whether long or short, all these things disappear. The only thing which remains forever is the human soul, the human person created by God for eternity. The fruit which remains then is that which we have sowed in human souls – love, knowledge, a gesture capable of touching the heart, words which open the soul to joy in the Lord. Let us then go to the Lord and pray to him, so that he may help us bear fruit which remains. Only in this way will the earth be changed from a valley of tears to a garden of God.In conclusion, returning again to the letter to the Ephesians, which says with words from Psalm 68 that Christ, ascending into heaven, “gave gifts to men” (Eph 4,8). The victor offers gifts. And these gifts are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Our ministry is a gift of Christ to humankind, to build up his body – the new world. We live out our ministry in this way, as a gift of Christ to humanity! But at this time, above all, we pray with insistence to the Lord, so that after the great gift of Pope John Paul II, he again gives us a pastor according to his own heart, a pastor who guides us to knowledge in Christ, to his love and to true joy. Amen."

More Chestertonian Sanity

Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up.

Fairy tales are more than true — not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.

'Free verse'? You may as well call sleeping in a ditch 'free architecture.'

He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative.

I've searched all the parks in all the citiesAnd found no statues of committees.

Many clever men like you have trusted to civilisation. Many clever Babylonians, many clever Egyptians, many clever men at the end of Rome. Can you tell me, in a world that is flagrant with the failures of civilisation, what there is particularly immortal about yours?

Never invoke the gods unless you really want them to appear. It annoys them very much.

The oligarchic character of the modern English commonwealth does not rest, like many oligarchies, on the cruelty of the rich to the poor. It does not even rest on the kindness of the rich to the poor. It rests on the perennial and unfailing kindness of the poor to the rich.

The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.

There is something to be said for every error; but, whatever may be said for it, the most important thing to be said about it is that it is erroneous.

Tolerance is the virtue of a man without convictions.

Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.

You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.

Even More Chestertonian Sanity

Other ages have seen the day conquer the candle-light and then the candle-light conquer the day. Again and again, before our time, men have grown content with a diluted doctrine. And again and again there has followed on that dilution, coming as out of the darkness in a crimson cataract, the strength of the red original wine. And we only say once more to-day as has been said many times by our fathers: 'Long years and centuries ago our fathers or the founders of our people drank, as they dreamed, of the blood of God. Long years and centuries have passed since the strength of that giant vintage has been anything but a legend of the age of giants. ... Never did we think to taste again even that bitter tang of sincerity and the spirit, still less the richer and the sweeter strength of the purple vineyards in our dreams of the age of gold. Day by day and year by year we have lowered our hopes and lessened our convictions; we have grown more and more used to seeing those vats and vineyards overwhelmed in the water-floods and the last savour and suggestion of that special element fading like a stain of purple upon a sea of grey. We have grown used to dilution, to dissolution, to a watering down that went on for ever. But 'Thou hast kept the good wine until now.'

'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.'... The civilisation of the world has passed away and those words have not passed away.'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.' The civilisation of antiquity was the whole world: and men no more dreamed of its ending than of the ending of daylight. They could not imagine another order unless it were in another world. The civilisation of the world has passed away and those words have not passed away. In the long night of the Dark Ages feudalism was so familiar a thing that no man could imagine himself without a lord: and religion was so woven into that network that no man would have believed they could be torn asunder. Feudalism itself was torn to rags and rotted away in the popular life of the true Middle Ages; and the first and freshest power in that new freedom was the old religion. Feudalism had passed away, and the words did not pass away. The whole medieval order, in many ways so complete and almost cosmic a home for man, wore out gradually in its turn and here at least it was thought that the words would die. They went forth across the radiant abyss of the Renaissance and in fifty years were using all its light and learning for new religious foundations, new apologetics, new saints. It was supposed to have been withered up at last in the dry light of the Age of Reason; it was supposed to have disappeared ultimately in the earthquake of the Age of Revolution. Science explained it away; and it was still there. History disinterred it in the past; and it appeared suddenly in the future. To-day it stands once more in our path; and even as we watch it, it grows.

Chesterton on Morality

"Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable."

"It's not that we don't have enough scoundrels to curse; it's that we don't have enough good men to curse them." "There is a case for telling the truth; there is a case for avoiding the scandal; but there is no possible defense for the man who tells the scandal, but does not tell the truth." "The whole truth is generally the ally of virtue; a half-truth is always the ally of some vice." "Truth is sacred; and if you tell the truth too often nobody will believe it."

"Civilization has run on ahead of the soul of man, and is producing faster than he can think and give thanks.""It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong." "There'd be a lot less scandal if people didn't idealize sin and pose as sinners."

"All men thirst to confess their crimes more than tired beasts thirst for water; but they naturally object to confessing them while other people, who have also committed the same crimes, sit by and laugh at them.""Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice."

"I say that a man must be certain of his morality for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it." "To the humble man, and to the humble man alone, the sun is really a sun; to the humble man, and to the humble man alone, the sea is really a sea." "Great truths can only be forgotten and can never be falsified." "The voice of the special rebels and prophets, recommending discontent, should, as I have said, sound now and then suddenly, like a trumpet. But the voices of the saints and sages, recommending contentment, should sound unceasingly, like the sea." "All science, even the divine science, is a sublime detective story. Only it is not set to detect why a man is dead; but the darker secret of why he is alive." "Most modern freedom is at root fear. It is not so much that we are too bold to endure rules; it is rather that we are too timid to endure responsibilities." "If we want to give poor people soap we must set out deliberately to give them luxuries. If we will not make them rich enough to be clean, then empathically we must do what we did with the saints. We must reverence them for being dirty." "The world will very soon be divided, unless I am mistaken, into those who still go on explaining our success, and those somewhat more intelligent who are trying to explain our failure." "What we call emancipation is always and of necessity simply the free choice of the soul between one set of limitations and another." "There are some desires that are not desirable." "In the struggle for existence, it is only on those who hang on for ten minutes after all is hopeless, that hope begins to dawn." "Modern broad-mindedness benefits the rich; and benefits nobody else." "It is the main earthly business of a human being to make his home, and the immediate surroundings of his home, as symbolic and significant to his own imagination as he can."

Help me to repent of my past sinsAnd to resist temptation in the future.Help me to rise above my human weaknessesAnd to grow stronger as a Christian.

Let me love you, my Lord and my God,And see myself as I really am:A pilgrim in this world,A Christian called to respect and loveAll whose lives I touch,Those under my authority,My friends and my enemies.

Help me to conquer anger with gentleness,Greed by generosity,Apathy by fervor.Help me to forget myselfAnd reach out toward others.

Make me prudent in planning,Courageous in taking risks.Make me patient in suffering,unassuming in prosperity.

Keep me, Lord, attentive at prayer,Temperate in food and drink,Diligent in my work,Firm in my good intentions.

Teach me to realize that this world is passing,That my true future is the happiness of heaven,That life on earth is short,And the life to come eternal.

Help me to prepare for deathWith a proper fear of judgment,But a greater trust in your goodness.Lead me safely through deathTo the endless joy of heaven.

Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen

Mgr Fulton Sheen [Easter 1941] narrates the Extraordinary Rite Mass

"When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32* Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. 34* Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35* for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? 38 And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? 39 And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?' 40* And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' 41* Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44 Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?' 45 Then he will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' 46* And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." [Mtt 25]

" 1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. * 7 In these you once walked, when you lived in them. 8 But now put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices 10 and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, 13 forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. " [Colossians 3]

They aren't that impressive - but I am grateful to the few people who nominated me...thanks.